Universal Studios Hollywood Part 1 – The Forbidden Journey

Neek Sez:

Universal Studios had offered tours since its beginnings.  On March 14, 1915 Carl Laemmle who was a German immigrant and a former bookkeeper invited the public to tour his studios, cheer their favorite actors and have a boxed lunch; all of this for a mere 25 cents.  Today, it costs a whole lot more and no boxed lunch.  Sigh!

Lex, Sar and I had a blast visiting all of the amazing attractions and going on the tram tour.

Hogsmeade was fantastic!  Riding on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was a lot of fun.  Lex was able to take some video of the ride.  They used to loan some 3D glasses but now they don’t due to some people getting motion sickness.

On a bright sunny California day, there was snow and icicles on the roofs of the village of Hogsmeade.  There were wandering wizards both young and embarrassingly old (like us) trying out their wands on unsuspecting animatronic figures in the shop windows.  Earlier, Sar had bought a Dumbledore wand and we all took turns trying it out.  Of course Sar was the best at it!  She could get the figures to move on the first try.

The owls at The Olwery looked pretty real and the floor was painted to look like they had pooped there.  Nice attention to detail!

We were on our way to the tram tour when we passed by Springfield with the infamous “Krustyland” park.  Lard Lad’s Donuts were looking pretty good but we had to hurry to get in the tour line.

On the tram tour we drove through Wisteria Lane from the television show “Desperate Housewives”, Hill Valley from “Back to the Future”, Amity Island (Jaws), saw King Kong beat up dinosaurs on Skull Island, sound stages, experience an 8.3 earthquake in a subway tunnel, and I got to see my favorite, “The Bates Motel”.

After the tour we went back to Hogsmeade and ate a delicious lunch at The Three Broomsticks.  Lex, Sar and I had the Lemon Herb Chicken with red potatoes and corn on the cob.  It also came with Aioli sauce.  Lex also ordered the Pumpkin Fizz and we all had a taste.  I thought it was all right, but just a little too sweet for me.

After lunch, we caught some of the shows.

To be continued…..